TIME'S MOUTH

Narrator Alyssa Bresnahan affects a hypnotic tone, drawing the listener into a groovy, magical world in which pregnant women live without men in an expansive Victorian manor house in the woods in rural California. Their sons live there, as well. Sharon, who has changed her name to Ursa, collects "the mamas" to protect them and to allow participants to "transport" to the past. Bresnahan takes theatrical pauses and uses modulations to make the imaginary aspects of the story real and the tangible magical. Lepucki's prose adds a rich and tactile element to the narrative, which is augmented by the talented Bresnahan. As listeners slip through the "membrane" that allows for time travel, Bresnahan urges them on, creating tension that eventually pays off with unusual insights into the human condition. R.O. © AudioFile 2023, Portland, Maine [Published: SEPTEMBER 2023]